Paths of Hate
by Phoenix T
Summary: Toni has always been strong and stubborn. But sometimes that gets in her way. When Toni joined S.H.I.E.L.D against her brother's wishes, she realized that this was one of those moments. But before she can get out she is sucked down a road of sorrow, pain ,and anger and is thrown down a path of hate. Can see find love on this path or will she be consumed by what she just remembered?


**_Phoenix Trails does not own Iron Man or the Avengers. However I do own my OC's including Antonia Stark. This story is rated Teen. There is some violence as well as the death of two characters in this chapter, Maria & Howard. _**

_The paths of hate are always unique. Some begin with a whisper, the tendrils of anger and confusion wrapping its way around the heart and then slowly suffocating the brain. Other paths are like bullets in the dark. They suddenly hit and take control of the whole body. Thoughts not completely the body's own are suddenly put into action. The tendrils are now so tight the soul can't tell if what it is doing is reality or a work of fiction. However if the soul looks hard enough it will see that the paths of hate cross into the paths of love._

The soft and shimmering flakes drifted down past the window seal as the trees swayed with the rhythm of the increasingly angry wind. Figure eights were left in the frost as my fingers traced random patterns on the foggy glass. Slowly the patterns were covered again as the cold outside tried to cling to them. Finding that the snow no longer held my attention, I stood up and crossed our cozy living room to the fragrant kitchen. The spicy smell of ginger fused to my clothes as I nabbed a cookie from the fresh batch sitting on the coal colored granite counter tops that were nestled underneath the cherry cabinets.

Gobbling it up, I headed down the hall to my room. As I opened the polished door my empty suit case stood out like a giant red blood stain against freshly fallen snow. Walking across my fuzzy grey floor I went to start a fire to warm up my neglected room. Rushing around the sparkle covered expanse, I quickly got my clothes piled into a skyscraper inside my suit case. Aggravated by not being able to close the stupid thing I yelled for my brother.

"TONY! I NEED YOUR HELP!"

"WHAT!"

"GET YOUR BUTT DOWN HERE"

"…please….." I added politely trying to guilt trip him into helping me. Apparently it worked because my brother's stomping feet echoed down the spiraling railed stairs. A few seconds later my shaggy haired older brother came into view.

"What does the little princess need so much help with that she called her little slave?" He grumbled despite the smirk that was now plastered against his Spanish face. His hazel eyes shimmered as he waited for me to answer his question.

"You're more like a jester then a slave Anthony." I said standing up with a very regal attitude.

Rolling his eyes, Anthony walked over to my bed and slowly struggled but succeeded in closing my sky scraper of a suit case.

"Anything else you need Tonia, or can I go back to my workshop now?" he said with his hands flying up in the air when he said now.

"Can I go with you?!" I practically screamed in excitement. Anthony never let me go in his workshop…cough bedroom cough… and I was hoping since it was almost Christmas he would finally let me. His glare almost silenced me but I held my ground and well … he broke.

"Fine!"

I raced up the wooden stairs and down the hallway that led to Tony's room. Beating my brother to the door, I waited in front of the door until he got there panting because he had to run. Knowing the unspoken rules I let him clean up his room before entering. I didn't know why he insisted that I wait but I have no right to complain, he was letting me see his holy place. The place where he invents stuff, he doesn't even let daddy in anymore.

I walked in, and immediately felt in awe. The whole place was awesome. There was an entire wall devoted just to tools. To the right of that wall was a desk that had a half finished robot on top of it. I went over to touch it before Tony stopped me, giving me a look that reminded me of the silent rules. Everything else in the room was fairly normal. There was a bed, some storage, a closet and a bathroom. Before I could further explore what made Tony's room so off limits, I was shoved out the door again. I huffed at the closed door in front of my face. Then deciding to let it go, I went to finish packing.

4 minutes and 36 seconds later...

I stared out the window as the condensation grew thicker on the glass. The warm air around me did not help the shivers that ran up and down my body. No these shivers were caused by fear and anxiety. Tony and Father had gotten into a fight less than one minute before I had hopped into the car. It was the same old fight, Dad needed help getting an invention to work and needed to use Tony's technology to do so. Like always Tony blew up in his face; yelling about how is was his and only his. After that Dad had stormed off in a rage.

The slamming off the car's driver door finally awakened me from my thoughts. I looked over to see Dad leaning his head against the steering wheel, a sigh escaped his lips as he dragged a wrinkled hand threw his salt and pepper hair. I didn't understand why he was so stressed.

Deciding not to think about it, I went back into my dream like state thinking about Tony and how I was going to dye his hair red for Christmas or maybe I could engineer something to make it turn green? I sat there for minutes thinking about how to do that as we drove along winding roads towards the airport. The wind beat against the car making me hold on tightly to the door handle. I was almost asleep when I heard my father speak.

"James? Oh My God! It can't be!"

I tiredly looked out the windshield. We were fast approaching a man who was standing in the middle of the road. He was pointing something at the car. Suddenly one of the tires went out. Dad tried to regain control but there was ice on the road. The vehicle lurched and rolled over and over and over until it went over the edge of a bridge and onto the almost dry river below. Everything went black.

My eyes fluttered as I slowly regained consciousness; I was vaguely aware of snowflakes gently landing on my face. The eyes finally opened. I glanced around where I was. My palms dug deep into the frozen mud of the river bed as I tried to sit up. I failed my face splashing back down into the small trickle of river water that ran beneath my body. Finally getting myself in an upright position, I felt a stab of pain in my back. I slowly tried to stand, unable to feel my lower body due to the freezing cold temperatures. However I failed at that as well. Something warm slowly trickled down the side of my face. I lifted my blue fingers to the side of my head, dabbing my fingers in the substance before bringing it to my face. Bright crimson blood painted my finger tips.

I tried to remember what happened but only remembered getting in the car. Wait! Where were Mom and Dad? I hurried glanced around trying to find anything that would point me to what happened. I wished I didn't. Even laying on the ground I could see the bright orange flames that poked out from the top of the ravine next to the river. Dragging myself across the frozen ground, I managed to get to the edge. I peeked a look before hurried pulling my head back. Down in the ravine was the car...and my parents.

I shouted for help, hoping that someone might be around that could help, but no one came. The only thing that answered me was the howl of the wind. The pushed my almost back hair into my face. My bloody fingers clawed the hair out of my face just in time to see a shadowed figure disappear into the forest.

 **Thanks for reading, please rate and review. Hope everyone has a blessed day and an awesome time. Phoenix Trails.**


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